He was the older brother of fellow anti-Soviet and Northern Alliance commander Abdul Haq, who was assassinated in late 2001 by the Taliban.

When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, Qadeer fought against them as a key resistance commander with the Hezb-e Islami Khalis faction.

[1] After the Soviet retreat in 1989 and the fall of the Afghan communist regime in 1992, Qadeer was appointed governor of Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan.

In 1999, Qadeer returned to Afghanistan and joined the Northern Alliance (United Front), which was the only resistance force left against the Taliban regime and its allies.

Qadeer came to lead the United Front's Eastern Shura and ensured the alliance's influence in the largely Pashtun east of Afghanistan.

[1] From the Taliban conquest in 1996 until November 2001 the United Front controlled roughly 30% of Afghanistan's population in provinces such as Badakhshan, Kapisa, Takhar and parts of Parwan, Kunar, Nuristan, Laghman, Samangan, Kunduz, Ghōr and Bamyan.

[1] After the fall of the Taliban regime, Abdul Qadeer joined with two other leaders, Hazrat Ali and Haji Mohammed Zaman, to lead the Eastern Shura.